The club where the girls dance decided to go to finals this year, and so 2 weeks ago we headed off to Collingwood. Normally this would be a 6+ hour drive from Ottawa to Collingwood, but we decided to break the trip up (5 in the car - plus dog is too much for that long of a trip) and head to North Bay for a night to visit my parents. A couple of 3.5 hour trips later - we were in Collingwood.
The finals were held at the Blue Mountain Resort, a pretty big resort - with a number of condo/hotels and a nice little village to walk around at the center. There's a conference center right there on-site, plenty of restaurants, groceries, a Beavertails and Starbucks right there - so no need to head into town even and it was all walking distance. Was nice that we didn't have to do much driving while there, and could focus a little more on the finals and some relaxing...
The resort itself is a 'ski' resort, although the hill is pretty small. It's reported as Ontario's biggest ski hill - which really doesn't say much for Ontario skiing. There are a number of runs, but the hill is only 450m high with a vertical drop of just over 200m. But we DID NOT GO FOR SKIING - it is summer after all... 
We did go up the hill to look around - could see Georgian Bay from the top and all around the area. Nice view. The hill in the summer is used for hiking, mountain biking and downhill biking (which looked pretty fun).
Here's a pic from the top, village below and Georgian Bay in the background.
Rebekah actually joined us for the trip! (I think she was hoping for more sun...) Was pretty bored for most of the week, until she started hanging out with some of the older dancers that she knew from school.Here is a quick clip of the resort and some of the views from the hill. clip
Emma with Lisa - clip
When we booked, we had hoped to have the first part of the week for dance, the second part for vacation - but the first half extended to Thursday to compete in the overalls - so it was more 75% dance, 25% vacation. Which ended up being ok - because the first part of the week, the weather was crap. We were able to sneak a few swims/hottubs during the few moments of sun in just about 20c weather... but Friday was great, hot and sunny, great for hiking and swimming.
As for the dancing...
Both Emma and Meghan competed. Emma only had one solo, and was done on morning 1. She did her best routine yet, but came up a little short against another girl from Elite. She was very happy with the way she danced - so it was all good.
Meghan did an amazing job on her solo, landing her tripple spin and all of her holds. She eventually won 1st overall in her category and a photographers award for the most photogenic routine - check out some of the pics!
Many of her other routines (solos and groups) did very well, getting high scores and one of the numbers competed in the dance-off. So overall - a great week for Meghan!
Highlight of the week?
I think the girls would agree that the highlight of their week, was their workshops with Lisa from So you think you can Dance Canada! They each had a couple hours with her and learned a short routine in jazz funk - check em out...
Dance is over!!!
No more dance for the year now... well, there are some summer practice sessions... but last night we found out that Emma has been asked to move up to Meghan's competition group - so she is EXTREMELY happy about that!
A final note - the year end recital for Elite went off well (prior to finals) and the parents number survived the back-to-back nights (with just the appropriate amounts of alcohol). As promised - here is a pic of the Dance Dads in all their glory...
If you can guess which one is me - you get a prize...
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What a great weekend! Love the dancing photos, fantastic. (I remember being that flexible, oh the good old days). Ok, a stab in the dark of a guess on the dads photo....rock star on the left with tongue hanging out? :)
oh i know! i know! do i get to win a prize?;)
No Sara - you can't guess...
Miss Canuck - you're very close - actually a pretty good choice, he's just as goofy as I am. (psst - i'm just one over)